ADVENTURE SCHOOLING
Family BIOGRAPHies
Brittany is a smart, shy 16 year old who identifies herself as “a science nerd.” Although she likes science, she actually spends more time developing her talent for dancing and singing (which she does at the college level). For example, she has or is taking college courses in modern dance, jazz dance, and choreography; she auditioned for and performed in the college's dance recital last year; she currently takes community-based lessons in Victorian Ball dancing and in classical Spanish dance (with a touch of flamenco). During her busiest phase, she has dance classes for 17 hours per week. Recently she lead a team of younger girls who choreographed their own routine for a state talent competition. She attends many social dances during the year, but rarely actually dances because she feels very uncomfortable without the structure of pre-planned steps. She has had a few years of private voice lessons, and like many girls her age, she dreams of auditioning for American Idol.
Still, if you ask her what she plans to do for a living, she answers without hesitation that she wants to work in some branch of forensic science. She plans to go to a police academy as early as she can, then pursue a bachelor's and master's degree in some aspect of crime solving. This fall, she will receive $2,000 worth of training at the nation's best gun training facility. She often reads science books on her own time, and she saves her babysitting money to buy science books of her choice. She always identifies with the most shy, emotionally controlled, and scientifically rational characters in books, film, and television. For example, her favorite characters on her favorite show of all time would be Dr. Temperance Brennan on Bones (an incredibly smart, socially unskilled forensic anthropologist) and not her hunky FBI agent partner, but rather Dr. Zack Addy (a super-intelligent, scrawny 20 year old with absolutely no social intelligence). To her family, science seems like an unusual choice for a girl with only ordinary skill in math, particularly when she has been reading at the college graduate level since the beginning of high school (at least eightgrade levels beyond normal). But, this is a girl whose biggest wish for her 15th birthday was to attend the Dr. Who science fiction convention in Los Angeles, and who is still miffed that we didn't move fast enough to get tickets for this year's ComiCon in San Diego.
She may be a great dancer, but she is determined to use that training to make her good at martial arts as an adult. She may be a great reader, but she is determined to use that skill to devour books on crime fighting. She may be a small, socially introverted girl, but in a few years she plans to use science to track down criminals, draw her gun or subdue them with martial arts, and put them behind bars. It sounds like a good female detective novel actually.
Favorite Books: Kathy Reichs novels, Enders Game, Lord of the Rings series, the Harry Potter series, A Series of Unfortunate Events series,
Favorite Movies: National Treasure, Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, Sunset Boulevard, the original Pink Panther movies, Mony Python and the Search for the Holy Grail
Favorite Television: Crime Dramas like Criminal Minds, Bones, CSI, and NCIS, Psyche, Fringe, Dr. Who, All Star Trek sagas, Heroes, Lost, Eureka,
Favorite Music: Popular country and western stars like Carrie Underwood,
Taylor Swift, Martina McBride
